June 1-14, 2013 – Chama, NM continued


We are both enjoying our time volunteering for the Cumbres/Toltec Scenic Railroad.  Rex has continued riding the train every other day and Nancy has worked at the display two days a week.
We have continued to have problems with a bear (or bears) in the RV Park so the Division of Wildlife brought in a bear trap and located it in the open area across the road from us.  We can see the trap from our 5th wheel.  Rex was out walking the dogs early one morning and found that they had caught a big ferocious black and white cat!  After 4 days and no bears, they moved the trap to the other side of town where they think the bears had moved to.  We haven’t had any bear problems since they took the trap away.





We enjoyed a visit with Ken and Sandy, friends who winter in our RV Park in Arizona.  Ken and Sandy live in Lander, Wyoming and were traveling with their grandson from Utah and Sandy’s brother and sister-in-law from Texas.  We had a great time visiting and riding the train with them.








The aspen trees at the higher elevations are being devastated by web worms.  The worms are eating all the leaves off the trees and building web like cocoons in the trees.  








Rex told us that a week ago this hillside was all green. Hopefully, when the moths hatch and fly away the trees will grow new leaves again.  If they don’t, the fall colors will not be very pretty this year.

We enjoyed our visit with Sandy and Ken and meeting their grandson and Sandy’s brother and sister-in-law.  After our train ride they all headed to Durango, Colorado where they are going to ride the Durango and Silverton train.

Since the RV Park has started getting busier we have not seen the deer as often as we used to.  We are still waiting for the fawns to be born but it looks like that will not happen before we leave.

Rex’s last train ride on Friday the 14th was very interesting.  He rode the train out of Chama and the web worms were so thick on the track that the train kept loosing traction.  It took them about 4 hours to make the 4% climb to the top of Cumbres Pass (about 12 miles) – which normally takes about an hour.  When they got to Cumbres pass one of the rail cars derailed and by the time they got the car back on the rails it was too late in the day to continue to Antonito so they returned to Chama.  Rex said that the passengers ate and drank everything from the concession car as they missed the great lunch at Osier.  After this eventful ride, the passengers were given a choice of a refund or a free ride the next day.  Hopefully, the worms will not be so bad and they won’t have more problems.

We enjoyed our month in Chama and have already scheduled our month back here next summer.

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